At Peace Festival, advocates criticize 'Oppenheimer' film for not recognizing New Mexicans' suffering

Matthew Reisen, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
·1 min read
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Aug. 5—The movie "Oppenheimer" has opened to mostly rave reviews, with one film critic saying, "scientific and historical accuracy are key. Fortunately for fans of both, 'Oppenheimer' delivers in telling the truth."

But those attending Saturday's Peace Festival at Roosevelt Park in Albuquerque said the film missed the mark on the toll the atomic bomb's testing wrought on local communities such as Carrizozo and Tularosa.

"As we reflect on what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, let us not forget that the people of New Mexico were the first people exposed to an atomic bomb," Tina Cordova of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium told the dozens who had gathered at the park, railing against the omission "as if the Manhattan Project and Trinity test took place in a vacuum."

She added, "They have never seen us. They have refused to see us in the past, and they refuse to see us today."

Those gathered in the park held signs with such messages as "denuclearize the U.S.," sang lyrics like "don't give up hope, you're not alone," and listened intently as Cordova rang a bell 10 times at 5:15 p.m. to mark the exact time that the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

A group of the women said they hope that if the movie brings awareness, it's the right kind.